


Everybody Needs Somebody

by kelex



Series: Illusions [3]
Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Drama, First Times, M/M, Series, h/c
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-12-11 07:18:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/795361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kelex/pseuds/kelex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blair finds Jim in the hospital and fights to bring him back from the jungle, and helps Jim control his primitive side.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everybody Needs Somebody

## Everybody Needs Somebody

by Kel

Author's website:   
<http://crystalshard24.tripod.com/sentinelindex.html>

The characters do not belong to me. They belong to Pet Fly Studios. I am making no money from this; I am doing this for sheer love of the characters and my own personal fulfillment.

Major Jim Owies aftermath. Lots of Jim Hurt/Blair Comfort.

This story is a sequel to: Love Restrained 

* * *

"Don't you think that you need somebody? 

Don't you think that you need someone? Everybody needs somebody...  
You're not the only one." 

-"November Rain," Guns N Roses, "Use Your Illusion 1" 

Blair slammed on the brakes as he pulled into the museum parking lot. Squad cars and ambulances were there, along with the coroner and a bodybag on a stretcher. The cops looked up at the squealing brakes and the mass of frenetic activity that cleared the way for Blair. 

One of the cops at the cordon saw the young man coming and headed him off. "I'm sorry, you can't come in here, this is a crime scene. You'll have to stay behind the yellow tape." 

Blair felt around his neck and cursed. His credentials--along with his wallet and everything else except his keys--were sitting at home on the dresser. "Look, I know this is a crime scene, I'm supposed to be here, I'm a police observer." 

The officer at the cordon looked Blair up and down, when a second one came over, having heard Blair's raised voice. "It's okay, that's Ellison's partner, the one I told you about. Let him in." 

Blair slipped under the crime scene tape. "What happened? Where's Jim?" 

The officer shrugged. "All we know is that Ellison was trying to stop a robbery and he got hit twice." 

Blair felt like someone had hit him twice in the stomach. His guts were twisting into knots. "Where did they take him?" 

The officer that recognized Blair dug out his notebook. "Halifax Memorial." 

"Thanks." Blair cursed. Halifax was twenty minutes away; what if Jim was dying? Or already dead? That thought caused the twisting in his guts to intensify. He had to get out before he vomited. He ducked under the tape and jumped into the Volvo, flooring it again and pushing the cylinders to their maximum speed. 

* * *

Simon hung up the phone and sighed. "Damn you, Sandburg, why the hell couldn't you have hung on for five more seconds?" He turned the chair back around to face the bed, where a delirious Jim was restrained as he called out for Blair and tried to pull himself free. 

* * *

He had been calling out to Blair when he fell, and now that he was trying to get back up again, something or someone was holding him down. He tried to look but saw nothing but funhouse images; faces elongated and twisted beyond recognition. He twisted harder and yet he was still being held down and something was forced in his throat. He spit the liquid back out, knowing they were trying to poison him to keep him away from Blair. But they wouldn't succeed. Jim kept fighting at the creatures holding him down. He could see them now, large white creatures that wrapped their tentacles around his wrists and ankles, tying him down and staking him out in the bright sunlight that threatened to blind his sensitive eyes. 

* * *

Simon moved to stand by Jim's bed as one of the orderlies and the doctor tried to put a tube down Jim's throat, only to have the Sentinel choking and gagging on it in his effort to spit it back up. He was still calling for Sandburg, and Simon winced to see the red blisters and welts on Jim's wrists from where the restraints were chafing him. _Where the hell is Sandburg?_

* * *

Blair narrowly missed rear-ending a slow-moving minivan as he swung around it and floored the six-cylinder engine. Horns blared at him, and he was seriously tempted to flip off the entire two lanes of traffic, but instead he concentrated on getting to Halifax Memorial in one piece. A grim thought popped into Blair's mind; _Now you're driving like Jim._ But even that thought wasn't frightening enough to slow the Guide down. Instead, the thought of Jim and the fact that he'd been shot twice and was at the best trauma hospital in Cascade only made him put his foot down on the gas even harder. 

He blasted through a yellow light that had just turned red, and tapped his brakes to pause behind a truck turning right into a gas station. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel as he sat at the last stoplight before the hospital. _Dammit, turn!_ Blair thought to himself. _Some of us have places that we need to be!_ Finally as he rounded the last curve, the lights and sign of Halifax Memorial Hospital were visible on the hill. 

Easing up just a bit, Blair swung into the emergency driveway and slammed on the brakes, bolting inside. He knew where the contact desk was-been there enough times-and he slid to a stop on the slick tile. "Jim Ellison," he demanded, panting slightly. 

The orderly at the desk flipped through the admissions book. "He's up on intensive care--" Blair interrupted the guy by turning and running for the elevators. "-But you can't get in!" But Blair was already gone. 

* * *

Jim was back in the jungle again. He was filled with a horrible panic because he was searching for Blair and he couldn't find him. He kept calling out the Guide's name, fighting against the vines and undergrowth that tangled his arms and legs and kept him from finding his friend. There was the horrible screeching of animals and it was making him wince as he tried to look from side to side and even his neck wouldn't work with him.

* * *

Simon was leaning over Jim, trying to talk to him as the doctor tried to put an IV needle into his arm. He kept trying to tell Jim that he was going to be fine, that Blair was on the way, anything that he could think of to calm the big man down, but nothing worked. His body temperature kept rising as his twisting and turning and fighting prevented the doctors and nurses from drawing the blood that would help them find the drug Jim had been hit with, and would help them find the right drug to administer to contradict the double dose. _Goddammit, Sandburg, where the hell are you? Jim needs you!_ Simon thought furiously to himself. 

* * *

"What do you mean, I can't get in there?" 

The nurse tried to quiet him. "I'm sorry, sir, but if you don't have any ID proving that you are the person listed on Detective Ellison's contact forms, then I can't let you back there to see him." 

"I'm his fucking partner!" 

"Sir, if you're going to keep raising your voice, I'm going to have to call security and ask you to leave." She looked at him disapprovingly. His hair was completely in a mess, and his clothing was disheveled from the panicked runs and drives. His cheeks were crimson in fury, and he was radiating worry and aggression. Her hand moved to the security button. "If you can come back tomorrow with some proof of identity, such as your drivers license or some other sort of photo ID, we can let you in to see Mr. Ellison. If you can't provide me with that now, then I'm sorry, but I can't let you in." 

Blair ran his fingers through the tangle of curls. "Look, I already told you I don't have it with me because it's all sitting at home on the counter! I heard that Jim had been shot and I came here as soon as I found out where he was!" Blair's voice was slowly raising again. "And now you're telling me that you can't let me back to see my partner???" 

The nurse was about to reach for the security call switch when another voice called out from behind her. "Sandburg!" 

"Simon!" Blair had never been more thrilled to see Simon than he had at that moment. "Where's Jim? What's going on, how is he, what happened, where is he?" 

Simon shrugged off the barrage of questions as he laid his badge down on the desk. "Look, I can vouch for this man being Blair Sandburg, and I'm going to give you my badge on it, and I'll take the responsibility for it." 

The woman stepped aside and let Blair pass, and he almost ran her over in his haste to get to the other side of the ICU and talk to Simon. "Simon, what's going on, what happened? How did Jim get shot twice?" 

He put his hand on the smaller man's shoulder. "Blair, he's not good. It wasn't gunshots; it was some kind of blowgun. They got him twice in the throat, with a double shot of some kind of tropical sedative. He's been delirious ever since he got hit and he's been calling out for you." Simon cleared his throat; this was going to be delicate. "I don't know how you feel about Jim, but from some of the things that he's said..." 

Blair sagged under Simon's hand. If Jim had been gunshot, that he could have dealt with. But poisoned, was something different. He had come expecting gunshots and seeing Jim almost dead, hooked up to respirators and everything else. "I know, Simon," Blair said softly. "I... found out tonight and don't worry, I feel the same way." 

The relief on Simon's face was evident. "He needs you, Sandburg. Nobody else has been able to get through to him. He's fighting us at every turn. And if they don't get him calmed down and find out what they shot him with, we're going to lose him." 

Blair's back stiffened at that, as his face got paler except for the two flushes of red on his cheeks. "We're not going to lose him, Simon. I'm not going to let that happen. Where is he; I've got to see him." 

Simon still held him back. "They've got him restrained; wrist and ankle restraints plus belts; the whole nine yards. He ripped through one set early on." He wanted to prepare the Guide for what he was going to see. "He may not even know who you are." 

Blair swallowed hard. "He'll know." 

Simon led him to the last room in the hallway, and stepped back as Blair looked through the small window in the door. Jim was lying on the bed, twisting and turning as a nurse leaned over him, trying to calm him down. His legs were kicking and his torso was twisting, trying to throw off the restraints. His mouth was moving, and Blair could pick out the words on Jim's lips. ~I won't let them hurt you, Blair... I will protect you... help me, Blair... I need you.~ 

Blair stepped through the door and went to Jim's bedside. He looked around and picked up Jim's restrained hand, and looked over at Simon and inclined his head towards the nurse. Simon nodded, and waved the nurse over, and ushered her out of the room, shutting the door behind them, leaving Jim and Blair alone with the doctor. 

* * *

Jim couldn't hear anything now. The creatures had finally left him alone, trussed up in the middle of the jungle. He still could not move and jumped when he felt cold and clammy skin touch his. "Blair!" he cried out. 

* * *

"That's right, Jim, it's me, I'm here," Blair said softly. "They didn't get me, you kept me safe." 

At the sound of Blair's voice, Jim latched onto it. "Blair, are you there?" 

"Yes, Jim... I'm here." He squeezed Jim's hand, and he almost cried when Jim squeezed back. "Come on, buddy... you've got to pull it together. The doctors and the nurses, they're, um, they're going to give you something that's going to help you." He fought to keep his voice strong for Jim, but he wanted to cry. His Sentinel should never have been in this situation. He should never have been held down and restrained. His Guide should have been with him. 

* * *

Jim was thrilled that Blair had found him in the jungle. After so many hands holding him down, he had started to despair of ever being able to break free and save his Guide. Now, though, he heard Blair's voice and he once again had faith in himself and knew he could escape and complete his mission, with his Guide by his side. 

He tried to look around, but the bright sunlight had blinded him, and he could not see anything but Blair. The rest was a blur, including the white creature in the corner of his eye--one of the creatures, back to hurt him again. "Blair, you've got to help me... they've tied me down, my arms and my legs, staking me out here to die. You've got to untie me, we've got to get out of here." 

* * *

Blair looked helplessly over at the doctor, who shook his head no. "We can't afford to let a potentially violent man with military training who is having hallucinations out of restraints yet." 

Blair sighed and gripped Jim's hand tighter. "I can't let you out, Jim, the doctor won't let me." 

Jim was shaking his head again, and Blair could tell by the glassy look in his eyes, that he was not seeing the hospital room. "You gotta fight for me, Chief, you gotta help me. They've been trying to poison me, trying to keep us apart... it's not safe here, Blair, but you're here now and we can go together." 

Blair took Jim's hand again, pressing his cheek against it. "Jim, you're not in the jungle anymore. You're here in the hospital, the doctors are trying to help you." 

Jim tried to pull his hand away. "You're not Blair. Blair would help me. Blair would help me out of here." 

Blair started to cry; those words on top of the night's events shattered his grip, and the tears fell. There was nothing he could to help Jim. The doctor would not let him out. _This is your fault, Sandburg... if you hadn't been bitchy and trying to make Jim feel guilty by sulking in the shower, then he wouldn't have run off without you and he wouldn't have gotten into the mess alone._

_I failed you, Jim. I was your Guide, and I failed you._

Jim knew that the man pretending to be his Blair was still there, still touching him. "don't touch me... you're not my Blair," Jim said softly. 

At the words "my Blair," the Guide raised his head. "Yes I am, Jim. I am your Blair. We live together, remember... we share the loft." 

"You're still not my Blair." 

"Yes I am! I found the poem, Jim, the one you left on my bed!" 

Poem... poem... something whirls around in Jim's thoughts. He almost knows what Blair is talking about. Poem... _My eyes are always searching for you. Across the room I seek you out, finding that I can't pull away. Even as you start to speak I hear music in your words and it fills me with joy._ The poem. Only his Blair would know about the poem. "What poem are you talking about?" 

Blair leaned forward eagerly; he seemed to finally be reaching Jim somehow. "The one you left on my bed, Jim, on my pillow. You left the loft right after you left it... I heard the door slam and that's when I got out of the shower. You called me on your cell phone... I know it was you on the other end but you never answered me. I called you back--rang your phone off the hook but you didn't answer." 

Jim was still hallucinating, and he started crying as Blair described the poem, and the part about the phone; some of the memories were filtering back as Blair talked about them, and Jim fought back a rush of emotion. "Blair... God it is you... get me out of these, Blair, we need to go, it's not safe here." 

Simon leaned against the door, watching through the small window. His heart went out to both men in that room, not just the one in the bed. The nurse was watching the doctor, and when he moves out of the corner and towards the door, she moves to go in, and Simon blocks her. "Let him be," Simon ordered. "Blair knows what he is doing." He fights his own urge to go in and put his arms around the smaller man's shoulders, his chest wrenching with the raw pain etched on Blair's face and on Jim's as well. 

Jim jumped as he saw the white creature moving around, and out of his line of vision. "Blair... he's gone... you gotta get me out before they come back and hurt us both." 

Blair shook his head. "Jim, you've got to trust me, they're trying to help you. I'm here, Jim, and I'm not letting anything else happen to you this time." He squeezed Jim's hand to prove it. 

Jim closed his eyes against the bright lights. This was Blair, his Blair, his Guide and the love of his life. His Blair was asking him to trust the white creatures that had been trying to poison him and keep them apart. His Guide was asking his Sentinel for trust. He trusted Blair with his life. He squeezed Blair's hand back. "I trust you, Chief." 

Blair would have collapsed with the relief that washed over him had he not already been sitting by Jim's bed. He motioned to the doctor, who came back over to the side of the bed. Jim flinched, and Blair put his other hand on Jim's chest. "Don't worry, Jim, I'm still here, and he's not going to hurt you... this is the doctor, he is going to give you something to help you." 

Jim felt the same prick in his arm that he'd felt twice in his neck as he was stalking the men in the jungle before, and then not long after the prick, darkness. 

Blair felt Jim's hand relax in his as the doctor took the vial of blood, and then a quick injection of a muscle relaxant took effect. "Is that going to bring him back to normal?" he asked the doctor. 

The doctor tossed the needle into the disposal and sighed. "I hope so; we will have to test his blood and find out what it was, but that shouldn't take long. As soon as we administer an antidote, then we wait for him to wake up before we know for sure." 

"Can we please take the restraints off him?" He despised seeing Jim tied down and caged like this. It demeaned him. A Sentinel was no danger to anyone, even if he was hallucinating. 

The doctor shook his head again. "I'm sorry, not until he wakes up." 

"When will that be?" Blair was eager to get the degrading restraints off. 

"It all depends on him," the doctor said, on his way out the door. The nurse came back in as the doctor went out, conversing with the doctor briefly. "This is Ms. Randall, she is going to be staying with you until Detective Ellison wakes up." 

* * *

It was three AM in the morning when Jim woke up. He knew, because he saw the clock in the moonlight from the window. He turned his head to the right, and saw a woman in a uniform-- a nurse--sitting by his bed. He turned his head to the left, and saw a mass of curls pillowed on his shoulder. He moved his arm and found his left wrist shackled to the bed rail. He turned and found his right arm similarly restrained, and looked down to find his feet restrained as well. As he looked, he became aware of Blair's slow breathing, the smell of disinfectant and medications--hospital smells--, the rapid thudding of the Guide's heartbeat. Blair hadn't left him. He didn't quite remember how he'd ended up in the hospital; the last thing he remembered was going into the museum. He cleared his throat, and whispered. "Blair?" 

The Guide awakened almost instantly, his hand going to Jim's face. "Jim? I'm here." 

He instinctively rubbed his face against Blair's hand as he looked as his restraints. "You think you can get me out of these restraints, Chief?" 

Blair looked quizzically at him. "Where are you, Jim?" 

"In a hospital," Jim answered. "Don't remember which one or how I got here, or even why. I don't feel shot." 

Blair almost cried again. Jim didn't remember anything. But that was good. At least he was himself again. He woke up the nurse, who went to get the doctor while Blair unfastened the padded restraints. He winced at the bloody red welts on Jim's wrists from fighting the restraints. "Jim," is all Blair could say. 

Jim looked over at his Guide... his Blair. "I don't... I only remember bits and pieces of things, Chief. Did you... I think you said that you found the poem?" At Blair's nod, Jim sucked his breath in. "Please don't leave, Blair. I don't want to drive you away. I didn't want you to know but I couldn't stand hurting you because I was trying to hide something. I need you, Chief... even if we can't... we have to be friends, Blair. I can't live without you. I'll never mention it again if it's not what you want, but you can't leave me. Not now, not ever." 

Blair listens to Jim, sitting on the edge of the bed and crying as Jim begged him to stay. "Jim, I'm not going to leave. I feel the same way about you, but I didn't think you did... then when I found the poem, I got the call from Simon saying that you'd been shot twice, that you were down... I couldn't stand the thought of you dying without me saying how much I loved you." 

Jim tried to sit up in bed but the drugs in his system kept him too weak to move much. Blair saw and moved in, laying across Jim's chest with his head on the Sentinel's shoulder as Jim wrapped his arms around Blair's waist. 

Blair jumped as the doctor knocked on the door, and separated from Jim just as the doctor came in. He stayed by Jim's side through the examination. The doctor turned on Blair. "You should not have taken those restraints off until I came in," he said, disapprovingly. "That could get the hospital in a lot of trouble, liability wise. 

Blair opened his mouth to speak but Jim beat him to it. "You'd be liable for a hell of a lot more than that if he hadn't taken them off, because look what your damned restraints did," he said, holding out his wrists. Large red welts of abraded and bloody skin from where he'd chafed against the padded cuffs stood out against his skin. 

The doctor cleared his throat, and sent the nurse out of the room as he fussed over several of Jim's vital signs, until she came back with first aid supplies. Jim stared daggers at her until finally Blair confiscated the ointment and bandages and wrapped Jim's wrists himself. Then he sat back down beside Jim, who was yawning. "Tired, Jim?" Jim nodded as he yawned again. "Then go back to sleep, Jim. I'm going to stay with you." 

"Make them roll a cot in," was all that Jim got out before falling back into the darkness of sleep. 

Blair took Jim's advice, and soon one of the orderlies rolled in a small cot, which Blair positioned beside Jim's left side. He pulled the rail down, and got onto the cot, reaching for Jim's hand and lacing his fingers through Jim's as he closed his own eyes. 

* * *

Simon looked through the small window of the door again, and smiled this time. Jim and Blair were both sleeping, holding hands. _Finally one of them must have figured it out,_ he thought to himself. He hated to wake them up, but he needed to get back to the station. He knocked loudly on the door. 

* * *

Jim heard the knocking first, and it woke him. He felt Blair's hand joined with his, and he looked over to see Blair curled up on the cot. He longed to be home and feel Blair curled up against him instead of a wet pillow where he'd cried in his sleep. "Blair," he said softly. "Someone's knocking." 

Blair blinked his sleepy eyes at Jim. "Tell them to go home." 

"It's Simon." 

Blair stretched as he walked over to the door. "Come on in, Simon," Blair said through a yawn. 

Simon smiled as he noticed Jim was no longer restrained. He looked at Blair's haggard face, and then Jim. "I told you so, Jim," was all he said. He moved his hand from behind his back to reveal a small potted fern, perfect for Jim's room and the dcor of the loft as well. "Looks like you're doing better." 

Jim gave his captain a small smile. "I think so, Captain. And it's all Blair's fault." 

Simon watched Blair's smile go supernova as Jim looked at him. "It was my pleasure." 

Then he moved his attention to Blair. "Sandburg... thank God you came when you did. I don't know what they would have done without you. Jim really needed you, and you came through for him. Good job, Sandburg." 

Blair blushed at the compliment from Simon. Having Jim alive and the Captain's approval made everything he'd gone through worth it. "Thanks," he said softly. 

"No, Blair... thank you," Simon said, just as softly. Then to them both... "Well... unlike some, I have to work today. Jim... I will be back this evening to see how you're doing." 

Jim smiled. "Thanks, Simon... it means a lot." 

Simon waved as he walked out of the room. 

* * *

A Few Days Later...

"Is it time to leave yet?" Jim was dressed, and sitting on the side of the bed. He was ready to get out. 

"In a minute, Detective," the doctor placated. "Mr. Sandburg, are you sure that you can deal with a convalescing person? There is still the possibility that he might have further hallucinations." 

Blair nodded. "I'm sure I can. Jim's my partner, we've been through worse before." He finished signing the doctor's paperwork, and then supervised as Jim was helped into a wheelchair. 

The Sentinel balked. "This is not necessary." 

"Sit down, Jim. It's hospital policy, and the less you fight it, the faster you get out." 

Jim meekly sat down in the wheelchair and let Blair push him along. Once they got outside, Jim's truck was sitting in the circle, waiting for them. He climbed into the passenger seat, and Blair got into the driver's side. "All right, let's go home," the Sentinel said. 

"You got it, Jim." Blair drove them both home, making idle chat until they stopped at a stoplight near the loft. He put his hand on Blair's leg, and was surprised to feel the crinkle of paper. "Blair?" 

Blair reached in and pulled out the carefully folded crumpled poem, and then slipped it back into his pocket. 

Jim left his hand on Blair's leg. "I have a confession, Blair," he said softly. 

Blair looked at him sideways. "What is it, Jim?" 

"I was in you room that night, Blair. I saw you in the shower... you were so beautiful in there, touching yourself, quietly gasping... I had to be around you somehow so I went to your room. I almost lost control in there, that's why I had to leave the poem and go. I couldn't stand being around you, knowing you didn't feel about me the way I feel about you... I don't know when I would have come home but it would have been long after you went to bed. And I would have hidden from you, Blair, as much as I could have." 

Blair looked over at Jim. "How could you not see? How could you not know. I knew, by the way you looked at me, how you touched me. I knew. At least... I'd hoped. I had hoped and then when I got the poem, I knew. And I couldn't believe you didn't know. Because I felt like I was screaming it out with every move I made, every breath I took, I felt like I was screaming it out to you, and you never saw it. I tried to convince myself no, he's your buddy that's it, but I couldn't because every time you touched me, I knew. I just couldn't admit it to either one of us." Blair parked the truck in the loft's lot, and turned to look at Jim. 

Jim wrapped his arms around Blair's waist before they got out of the truck. "Thank you for not leaving me," Jim said softly. 

Blair leaned over into Jim's arms, and then kissed him. Jim's mouth was hard at first, unyielding as Blair teased him, but with gentle insistence, Jim's mouth softened under Blair's advances, and the Guide attacked. His tongue thrust through Jim's pliant lips to touch and stroke his tongue, caressing it gently over and over again. Slowly, Jim brought his hand up to touch Blair's face and stroke his hair. "You are exquisite," Jim whispered, as the kiss was broken. 

Blair giggled as he rubbed Jim's slightly reddened lips. He never thought he'd be making out in the car with Jim. "You never told me you could kiss, Jim." 

Jim blushed slightly. "You never asked, and the subject never came up." 

Blair pulled Jim out of the truck behind him and up the stairs to the loft. "Come on in, Jim... welcome back to OUR home," he said, stressing the "our" part. 

Jim let Blair pull him into the house, and sit down with him on the couch. He sat first, and Blair sat in his lap, and Jim wrapped his arms around him. "Chief... if I said anything while I was out of it that hurt your feelings..." 

Blair put a finger over Jim's lips. "No, Jim... you didn't. It's okay, I understood." He put his arms around Jim's neck, and pulled the big man's head down to rest against his shoulder. "You were fine, Jim." 

Jim let Blair hold him, because within the circle of his Guide's arms, he found quiet, a solace and a solitude he hadn't realized he'd been missing. He realized as he mulled over Blair's words that he didn't have to worry, he didn't have to be anything but who he was, and the Guide would always be there, always be accepting of him. That touched Jim, and he tightened his arms around Blair as the thought hit him. 

Blair responded by moving closer to Jim, and laying his own head against Jim's neck, nuzzling the soft bit of skin behind the Sentinel's ear. Jim purred deeply in his throat, and Blair raised his head as he heard it. He sounded like the large hunting cat that protected him, and Blair shivered at the thought of an animalistic Jim. He'd seen that in the hospital, and it frightened him. But at the same time, that frenzy controlled, a fierce Jim towering over him and possessing him... he shivered again, and it wasn't unpleasant. 

Jim felt the second shiver, and pulled back long enough to look at Blair's face. The Guide's eyes were half closed, and his bottom lip was caught between his teeth as his cheeks flushed red. Jim leaned forward and bit Blair's earlobe gently. "What are you thinking about, Blair?" Jim asked softly. 

"You, Jim," Blair confessed with a blush. "How you'd look leaning over me." 

"And how would I look?" Jim asked, curious for the answer. 

Blair burrowed against him. "Strong. Fierce. And towering." 

Jim's chest rumbled again as he contemplated that image and Blair was again reminded of the hunting cat and the ferocity he'd seen in his hallucinating friend. All that intensity, and Blair could imagine it directed towards him. "How about intense, Chief?" Blair nodded, and Jim lifted him up. "Come on. We're going." 

Blair got up, following Jim. "Going where?" 

Jim smiled brightly at Blair, and the Guide melted. "Upstairs, Blair." There was one thing upstairs; bed. Blair grabbed Jim's hand and climbed up the stairs behind him. Jim reached the top of the stairs and yanked Blair close, wrapping one arm around his waist and running his other hand through Blair's hair. "I don't want to hurt you, but I have to have you," Jim said softly, before putting his mouth to Blair's. 

Blair almost buckled as Jim attacked his mouth. The Sentinel's mouth was soft and yet demanding, his tongue thrusting through this time. He was encouraged by Blair's eager kiss earlier, and now Jim took the lead as their tongues thrust against each other. Jim sucked hard, and Blair's knees did buckle this time, but Jim followed and scooped him up before he fell. He held Blair close as the Guide's hands popped the buttons off Jim's shirt in his haste to get it open. 

Jim almost dropped Blair as the Guide's mouth attached itself to the first nipple he exposed through the half-open shirt. Instead his grip on Blair tightened, one hand holding the back of Blair's head and holding him in place. His other hand steadied Blair on the bed as Jim knelt on it, pushing Blair back long enough to start stripping. 

Blair was hungry for Jim now, and his nimble fingers helped the Sentinel's shaking ones to rip the rest of the buttons off Jim's shirt and baring his chest. Blair moved his mouth to Jim's other nipple as his hands pushed the sleeves and shoulders off and the shirt finally fell to the floor. Blair attacked Jim's khakis next, popping the button and unzipping the zipper as he pushed the pants down. Jim kicked off his shoes and khakis as he toppled backwards onto the bed, pulling Blair with him. He rolled, and Blair landed on the bed and then Jim knelt over him. He leaned forward, putting his hands on either side of the Guide's head and pressed his groin against Blair's, grinding it. 

Blair moaned as Jim leaned down, kissing and nipping his neck. The Sentinel ripped Blair's shirt down the middle, pushing it off the Guide's shoulders and nipping the man's bare skin as it was exposed to him. He breathed in deeply again, and Blair's scent filled him again, and Jim growled as Blair raked his nails over his back. "Be careful with those claws, little cat," Jim admonished in a husky voice as he nipped Blair's shoulder again, leaving small crescents of teeth marks. 

Blair felt Jim's teeth marking him and moaned again. Jim was not hurting him, just marking him, and Blair raised his hips to allow his lover to pull down and throw to the side his jeans, boots, and underwear. He jolted slightly as Jim pinned his wrists together with one hand and with the other, roughly stroked his chest, hips, and thighs. "Jim?" Blair asked, hoarsely. 

"Trust me, Blair." Jim was fighting the urge to maul Blair like a maniac. The scent of his Guide, mixed with the pheromones that Blair was giving off was overwhelming him. _Mate and protect!_ was the instinct that was filling Jim's brain as Blair's body touched his. Only his army training allowed him to still think with some modicum of rationality. He kissed Blair again, and the smaller man wrapped around Jim. 

"I trust you," Blair whispered, and Jim's body shook with the fight to retain control. He lost, and the primitive Sentinel came out to replace the repressed cop. He kissed Blair hard again, and rolled the Guide into the middle of the bed, laying full length on him and pinning him to the bed. He felt Blair stiffen slightly, and he trembled as he tried to pull back. His Guide was afraid of him. 

Jim loomed over Blair, and the Guide could not help but be frightened. He had expected intensity, he had expected ferocity, but not the raw, primitive creature that he saw in Jim's eyes. "Jim," Blair said quietly, in the softest, but firmest voice he could muster. "Jim... you have got to come back," he said. "You're losing control." He started pushing gently but firmly at Jim's chest. "Jim... it's time to come back now." Still no response, nothing but harsh breathing as Jim rocked slowly against Blair. "Jim. You are losing control. You have to be a Sentinel now. You have to come back, you have to take control." Blair was not half as confident as his voice made him sound, especially when Jim was not responding. He kept pushing at Jim, but the Sentinel did not budge. 

As he lay trapped under Jim's gently undulating bulk, he started to be seriously frightened. Nothing he was saying was reaching the out of control Sentinel, and the gentle pressure of Jim against him was causing his breath to catch in his chest. "Come on, Jim, you've got to come back to me... this is scaring me," the Guide said, panting slightly. 

Jim sniffed as he moved against Blair. The scent of the man beneath him had changed, and he smelled fear all over him. He knew that was bad-- his Guide should never be afraid of him, and yet all he smelled now was fear. It was a terrible, bitter smell and when the Guide started talking, Jim forced himself to hear the last of it. //Come on, Jim, you've got to come back to me... this is scaring me.// 

_Blair... scared... of me._ That snapped Jim out of his state, and he rolled over, covering his face with his hands. He couldn't believe he'd almost hurt his Guide. 

Blair sat up as Jim rolled over. His first instinct was to check on Jim, to make sure he was all right. "Jim?" He touched Jim's arm, and the Sentinel flinched. "Jim, are you all right?" He was worried that Jim still had not responded when suddenly Jim wrapped his arms gently around him and hugged him. 

"Jesus, Blair... I could have... I am so sorry!" He buried his face in Blair's hair, fighting for a different kind of control this time. "I lost it," he whispered softly. 

Blair struggled to sit up, and Jim released him almost immediately. He was nervously fidgeting, and he snagged the hairbrush that happened to be on the floor, knocked off the dresser earlier. He twisted the handle in his hands, and Jim reached around and took the hairbrush out of Blair's hand, and started to brush the Guide's hair with it, needing something to do to fill his hands and his mind. 

As soon as the brush touched his hair, Blair scooted back between Jim's legs. The Sentinel carefully pulled the brush through the wavy curls, stroking them into a fluffy, shiny mass. He ran his fingers through Blair's hair each stroke, pulling out the tangles and using the brush to work out the worst of them. "I could have really hurt you, Blair," Jim whispered as he kept brushing. He started counting; he'd reached twenty strokes before Blair shook his head no. Ten more strokes, and Jim answered. "I never want to hurt you, Chief." He kept brushing... he was up to forty before he could continue. "I have never lost it like that before, so intense... I had to be a part of you, Blair." Fifty strokes by the time he'd finished. 

Blair closed his eyes and luxuriated in the feel of Jim's strong hands pulling the brush through his hair. He leaned further back against Jim, relaxing in the safe feel of his Sentinel. Jim was quiet for a while, and the steady stroking of the brush calmed the Guide immensely. Jim was all the way up to eighty strokes before Blair said anything. "I love you too, Jim," he said softly, and closed his eyes again. 

Jim fumbled the hairbrush, then picked it up and with a shaking hand, started brushing again. At one hundred, Jim was finally able to speak without a lump in his throat. "I love you, Blair." 

Blair tilted his head back to let his hair fall more loosely for Jim to brush, and the Sentinel bit his lower lip as he brushed. Blair's eyes were closed, his lips reddened and slightly swollen from Jim's rough treatment, and his skin was smooth as silk in the light from the window. He appeared so fragile to Jim in that instant that the Sentinel knew he'd lay down his life for Blair, no questions asked. He brushed Blair's hair for another fifty strokes, then laid the brush on the bedside table and put his hands on either side of Blair's face, dropping a quick and gentle kiss on Blair's abused lips. The Guide's eyes opened, and when he didn't pull away, Jim kissed him again. 

This time Blair rolled on top of Jim. "I want you too, but you can't keep losing control," Blair said worriedly, between kisses. "I trust you, Jim." 

Jim held Blair gently. "I won't lose it again, Blair, I promise you that." He kissed the Guide's eyelids shut, and gently nipped and kissed his way down, tenderly kissing and soothing the bite marks and welts that adorned the Guide's body. Each one hit Jim in the stomach, and he was repulsed by the disregard for Blair that he'd shown before. He kissed each marking, and when he finished, Blair's eyes were closed again, and his breath was coming in soft pants. He kissed Blair's throat gently, his tongue licking over the Guide's pulse as he sucked the skin covering it. "Jim," Blair moaned softly, and the Sentinel smiled. He moved up to kiss Blair again, softly but urgently. 

"Touch me, Blair," Jim whispered roughly, putting Blair's hands on his shoulders. "I need to feel you touching me," he pled, his eyes on the Guide's. 

Blair nodded and his eager hands started to roam over Jim's body. He felt the solid muscle of his Blessed Protector and shivered as he remembered those arms holding him close. He lifted himself slightly and pressed himself against the length of Jim's body, letting go of the lingering fear and giving himself to Jim. 

Jim felt the Guide's body relaxing against him, smelled the last lingering scent of fear disappear. He lowered himself to lay atop Blair again, holding his weight off the smaller man's body and kissed his entire face. Blair's arms held tightly to Jim's shoulders. "Are you sure?" Jim asked, his eyes glimmering with concern. 

Blair nodded. "I want you, Jim, I want to be a part of you and I want you to be part of me," he said, pulling Jim down. He kissed the Sentinel carefully, and then looked at him. "I told you, Jim, I trust you," he whispered. 

Jim wrapped both arms around Blair and sat up, holding the Guide in his lap as they kissed. Jim stroked Blair's face as he broke the kiss and turned, reaching into the drawer of the bedside table and bringing out a small tube of hand lotion. Blair eagerly took the tube from Jim's hand and flipped the tube open. "Give me your hand," Blair whispered, and Jim held it out as Blair squeezed a glob of the cream onto Jim's fingers, and he spread it carefully over the Sentinel's hand. He opened his legs and wrapped them around Jim's waist, and Jim slipped his hand under the curve of Blair's ass. His fingers slipped between the firm cheeks, and one slipped inside the tight opening, stroking. 

Blair cried out as Jim's finger penetrated him, and his nails dug into Jim's chest as he held on. The Sentinel grunted, and his finger slipped deeper as Blair wiggled. He stroked with a single finger, and then after several strokes added a second finger, spreading the lotion inside Blair's body. The Guide wiggled again, and then reached for the lotion again, this time squeezing it onto Jim's shaft and wrapping his hands around it. He slid his hand up and down the shaft, as Jim rocked against him, slightly thrusting upwards. "Now, Jim," Blair begged. "Please now." 

Jim had only been waiting for the word from his Guide. Grabbing Blair's shoulders, Jim lifted the Guide and slowly slid him down on his erect shaft. Blair gritted his teeth and moaned through it as he felt himself stretching and sliding down, and Jim moaned as well, feeling Blair's heat encasing him. "Gawd," he whispered. 

He moved, spilling Blair onto the bed, still inside the Guide as he rocked. Blair's legs remained locked around Jim's waist, and he thrust deeply into him, pulling out to slam back in. He listened for Blair to tell him to stop, but when the protest didn't come, he started to thrust faster, his hips moving almost in a blur as he hammered Blair with more forceful strokes than before. "Yes Jim yes," Blair chanted. "Harder... yes... there," he said between moans. 

Jim gritted his teeth as he complied, fighting the loss of control. It was easy to defeat this time, he needed only to look at Blair lying beneath him, his hair flying as he turned from side to side, feel the man pushing up to meet his strokes to push the animal away. He wrapped his arms around Blair and lifted him, allowing Jim to push even deeper as they both neared the finish. 

Jim lowered his mouth, nibbling on Blair's neck and nipple as the Guide's hand wrapped around his erection and stroked. His body bucked as he stroked, and Jim matched the hammering of his hips to the strokes of Blair's hand on his own shaft. As Blair's hand speeded up, Jim did too. He fought his own orgasm, felt it rushing forward but willed it to wait until his lover came first. Instead they came together, Jim's seed spilling into Blair's body as the Guide's body tightened, and his own seed covered Jim's stomach and his own hand. Jim's arms trembled as they pulled Blair close, their bodies still joined as they held each other. "I didn't lose it," Jim whispered, his fingers rubbing the bite marks on Blair's shoulder. 

Blair burrowed against Jim's warm side, the Sentinel's arm wrapping around his waist. "I knew you wouldn't, I trusted you," Blair said sleepily, his eyes half lidded and exhausted from the fear and the previous several days' ordeal. 

As he looked at the Guide's sleepy face, Jim felt the exhaustion catching up with him too, and he pulled Blair even closer, one leg hooking over the Guide's to keep them close and joined. "I want to promise you something... I will never go out without you again." 

Blair looked up and rested his chin on Jim's shoulder. "And I promise you, I will always be there for you... I won't let you down again." 

Jim's arms tightened around the Guide. "You didn't let me down, Chief, you just made me realize how much I need you in my life." 

Blair could not fight the exhaustion any longer. "I will always be here, Jim," were his last words before falling asleep in the Sentinel's arms. 

Jim kissed Blair's cheek softly, and cradled the precious Guide to his chest as he closed his eyes. His last thought was of waking up in the morning with Blair in his arms, and he drifted off to sleep with a smile. 

End 

* * *

End Everybody Needs Somebody by Kel: dragonbane4@aol.com

Author and story notes above.

  
Disclaimer: _The Sentinel_ is owned etc. by Pet Fly, Inc. These pages and the stories on them are not meant to infringe on, nor are they endorsed by, Pet Fly, Inc. and Paramount. 


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